ISLAMABAD: The Poles are in Pakistan to attempt to scale K2 for the first time in the winter season.

It is the only 8,000-plus-metre-high peak which has never been climbed in the winter.

K2 was attacked in the winter only three times in the past. The Poles first attempted to summit it in the winter of 1987-88. In 2003, they made their second attempt. The Russians gave up their attempt in 2012 after losing one of their 14 climbers. None of the expeditions could climb past 8,000 metres.

8,000-plus-metre-high peak has never been climbed in the winter season

Some of this team’s members were the first to open the winter season in the Himalayas in 1980 and Leszek Cichy and Krzysztof Wielicki were the first climbers to stand at the summit of Mount Everest. This was followed by nine more successful attempts on 8,000 metres-plus peaks in Pakistan and Nepal.

“The 13-member team of Poles is a force to reckon with. We have mountaineers who have climbed Mount Everest, Gasherbrum, Broad Peak and peaks in Nepal and know what it means to climb in the winter season,” team leader Krzysztof Wielicki told a press briefing here on Saturday evening.

The team explained its plans to scale K2 by the middle of March. Wielicki said winter climbs on 8,000-plus peaks were the biggest sports challenges of modern mountaineering. Nonetheless, climbing K2, which is one of the hardest peaks to summit especially in winter, is going to be very challenging.

“Though we have good weather reports, we are looking at 50 degrees below zero temperatures and winds as fast as 200 kilometres at the summit. There will be less snow but more climbing on ice that is technically demanding,” said Wielicki, who has been climbing for 47 years.

An electrical engineer by profession, Wielicki said the achievements of the Poles were widely known the world over.

Veteran mountaineer Adam Bielicki is also a part of the team who winter climbed Gasherbrums and lost two team members after summitting Broad Peak in 2013.

“I have a lot of lessons to take away from that experience and one of the most important is to make the right decisions and turn back when the time is right unlike in 2013 which cost us the lives of our friends. However, we are praying for good weather and luck,” said Bielicki.

About the differences between winter and summer climbing, Bielicki, who is making his fourth winter attempt, explained that the weather would be the deciding factor.

“Days will be short and there will be few clear windows to push for the summit.

According to Secretary Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP) Karrar Haideri, security for the adventure tourists has been ensured and there are no such concerns in Gilgit-Baltistan.

The team will reach the K2 base camp in the beginning of January and start climbing in the first half of the month, he said.

Published in Dawn, December 31st, 2017